Kee girls track team scores points in four of five events to finish in top 20 of Class 1A State Track Meet; Senior Haley Meyer wraps up career with four more medals
400 meter bronze is best of top-six quartet... Kee girls track senior Haley Meyer makes her way toward the finish line in the 400 meter dash at the Class 1A State Track and Field Meet at Drake Stadium in Des Moines Thursday, May 19 in one of her four events she qualified in for the season grand finale as her high school track and field career came to a close. Meyer’s first time competing in that 400 meter dash in that State Meet field proved to be her best finish in all four of those events, as she placed third in a time of 59.61 seconds. In a busy Saturday, May 21 for her, Meyer ran to a pair of new school records in placing fourth in the 800 meter run in 2:21.05 and finishing sixth in the 1500 meter run in 4:54.25. She also joined forces with sophomore Mallory Mohn and the junior pair of Alaina Bakewell and Jaylyn Walleser for another sixth-place finish time of 1:54.11 in the sprint medley to score team points in all four of the events she qualified in for her final high school performance on the big blue oval. Photo courtesy of Nate Troy, Cresco Times Plain Dealer.
The Kee girls track and field team continued to not only be represented but also continued to make its presence felt at the Class 1A State Track and Field Meet at Drake Stadium in Des Moines Thursday through Saturday, May 19-21, qualifying for five events for the 2022 season grand finale and ending up on the final team scoreboard for the sixth consecutive season. This year’s efforts also marked the fourth consecutive season that Hawk team scoring ended up among the Class 1A top-20 elite, as the four Kee girls competing in this spring’s State Meet scored points in four their five qualified events, including top-six finishes in all four of those events to compile 17 points and finish tied for 16th as a team in the final Class 1A field of nearly 60 teams scoring points.
The Lady Hawks got their latest season grand finale efforts off to a returning start Thursday morning as junior Alaina Bakewell hit the track again in the Class 1A 100 meter dash preliminaries, where she had finished 15th last season in her State Meet debut in a clocking of 13.38 seconds. Needing a top-eight preliminary time to make Saturday’s finals, Bakewell clocked in at 13.88 seconds to end up 20th in that 24-runner field, missing that last qualifying spot claimed in 13.47 seconds by less than half a second. The Class 1A 100 meter dash state championship was won by Madrid junior Lilly Ostert in a time of 12.45 seconds.
Kee’s Thursday schedule wrapped up with well-decorated track and field/cross country senior Haley Meyer beginning her final high school venture around the big blue oval at Drake, although she was competing for the first time at that season grand finale in the 400 meter dash. Although making her individual 400 meter debut, Meyer ended up recording her best finish of this year’s State Meet in that one-lap circuit, coming in third with a clocking of 59.61 seconds. Nashua-Plainfield freshman Kadence Huck topped this season’s Class 1A 400 meter dash field in her season grand finale debut with a time of 57.35 seconds.
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